by Tay Marley
“We should go together.” He wrapped both of his hands around the ball and shrugged before he sent it back. “You can invite Drayton if you want. Gabby. Whoever.”
“Gabs will just complain that she’s too pregnant to go camping,” I sighed with amusement.
“How is all that going? We talked a bit at graduation but I didn’t want to bring it up in public.”
“She would have appreciated that.” I nodded. “She’s fine, I suppose. Just taking it one step at a time.”
“Not going to lie, I’m glad that wasn’t you. Damn.”
“It won’t be for a long time,” I laughed.
“So.” He caught the ball. “Make the most of this summer. Live it up. Be good to your best friend but do not hibernate with her because she doesn’t want to leave the house. Don’t spend the entire three months crying over the fact that you’re going to a different state than your boyfriend for college.”
“Nathan,” I sighed.
Of course, it was a bit of a bummer that Drayton and I would be apart. I was going to miss him, more than I could comprehend.
I’d miss late-night cuddles in bed while we watched Netflix docuseries about sports or cute romantic movies that Drayton teased me for appreciating. I’d miss how he played with my hair. How he tucked me in when he thought that I’d fallen asleep. I’d miss him picking me up for spontaneous dates—bowling, food, the movies. I’d miss going to the gym with him, even if I did watch more than I lifted. I’d even miss the embarrassment—the moments that we’d be strolling in the mall and he’d hear a song that he loved so he’d pull me in and spin me around and I’d have no choice but to dance. Or his R-rated commentary in stores in front of whoever was listening. He had no filter and I loved every single thing about him.
All right, I might sob a little bit when I left. But we’d survive. I knew that we would. We’d make the most of the summer that we had left and figure the rest out later.
And that’s what we did.
This is the final boarding call for flight KO3348 from Colorado Springs to Los Angeles. Final call for KO3348 from Colorado Springs to Los Angeles.
“Dal.” Gabby gave me an apologetic smile. “You have to go. You’ll miss the flight.”
“But he’s not here.” I stared at the door and then I turned around and looked at the air hostess who knew that I was her last passenger to board. I needed to leave but he wasn’t here. “He said that he would be here.”
“Yeah bu—”
My phone vibrated in my hand and I read the screen so fast that I had to go over the words once more in order for them to make sense.
Cheer, baby. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. Traffic. Fuck. I love you. I’ll see you soon though okay. This wasn’t going to be good-bye so think nothing of it. Have a safe flight.
“He’s not coming.” I swallowed; there was a burn behind my eyes. My nose stung. But I gave Gabby and Nathan a wide smile. “I better go. But I’ll be back again so . . . this isn’t good-bye.”
“Don’t be a cheese.” Nathan jabbed me in the shoulder but I could see a distinct shade of red rimming his eyes. I didn’t want to make it worse for him.
“You better be back.” Gabby had a cute little bump now. She suited it. “As soon as I go into labor you have to get on a flight and come home. I need you there, holding my hand.”
“That’s Josh’s job.”
“You would handle the hand holding better.” She nodded, her dark curls bouncing. “Trust me. You’ll come right?”
I swept her into a tight hug. “Of course I will. My hand is yours to break.”
“Good.”
“As long as I can send over my assignments for you to do.”
“Deal.”
Both of our bums were sticking out a bit due to the fact that there was a lump between us. I loved it, though. I leaned down, gave my future niece a quick kiss through the thin tank top and then moved over to Nathan.
“Go.” He gave me a big hug. “You’ll miss the flight and I’ll be stuck with you. Can’t wait to have the house to myself.”
“Mhmm, sure.”
I savored one more squeeze from him and then I picked up the backpack that I’d brought as carry-on and ran over to the gate. The flight attendant looked frustrated, but she smiled regardless and scanned the boarding pass. Once more, I turned around and waved. Gabby and Nathan stood beside each other, waving—one with more enthusiasm than the other.
The seats were full when I emerged from the tunnel and onto the plane. I was in row D. Seat two. The numbers were on the overhead compartment doors so I stared up at them as I moved through the aisle. When I stopped beside my seat, I shrugged off the backpack and put it beside another in the overhead compartment. I contemplated getting a hoodie out of it. I was in a romper because it was hot as hell outside, but the flight could get cold.
I decided against it and looked down at the seat to find a familiar set of green eyes watching me, his smile as devious as ever.
“Wh—Dra—what the fuck?”
He was here. On the flight. He was in the seat beside mine, with his cap on backward. His powder-blue T-shirt hugged his shoulders.
“You should sit down, Cheer.” He gestured at the seat. “The flight attendant looks kind of irritated.”
I fell into the seat beside him, still watching his face because I couldn’t believe that he was here. “What’s going on?”
“Thought we should catch the same flight? We can share an Uber. I mean, we’ll have to split off once you’ve settled into your dorm because I have to settle into mine at UCLA, but it’s not that far.”
“UCLA?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, smiling as if I should understand this in clear context without so much as an explanation. “The college that I’ll be attending. UCLA. In Califor—”
“You’re going to UCLA?”
His smile softened as his gaze moved, traveling across my face. “I am, Cheer.”
“What the hell?” I punched him in the arm and he recoiled.
“Damn, can we save that shit for the bedroom?” He rubbed his bare skin. “Or the dorm room?”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I mean, how is this possible? I thought that you didn’t write a letter of intent?”
“I did. To UCLA. Months ago. It was risky but I pulled it off. Dad changed his tune after the whole prom night bullshit. He agreed to let me do a walk-on wherever I wanted, but I’d done the letter of intent.”
“You did it months ago?”
“Mhmm.” He picked up the hem of my romper and absentmindedly toyed with the fabric between his fingers. “Dad gave me the green light to choose which school I went to, but he flipped one last time when I told him that I’d already sorted UCLA. We’re fine now, though.”
“How come you didn’t tell me? All of that . . . tension over it. You could have said something.”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up just in case it didn’t happen or I couldn’t change Dad’s mind.”
“You’re going to be so close,” I mumbled as his hand spread out on my knee and slid under the romper hem.
“So close.” He didn’t bother waiting for the flight attendant to pass as she finished closing the overhead compartments. His hand held my face and he kissed me.
We would have been fine in separate states. I believed that. But the fact that we didn’t have to be in separate states, the fact that he’d be half an hour from where I was and we could see each other whenever we wanted, it was the hope that I never wanted to have, fulfilled and more.
Being in love with him, sharing a future, and succeeding together was more powerful than I could have imagined it would be. And realizing that I didn’t have to choose one over the other, that I could have the dream school and the goals while being in love at the same time might be the most valued lesson of all.
I c
ouldn’t wait to see where the road took us.
Epilogue
DRAYTON–Two years later
There she was. The woman I loved. Her hair, soft like silk, draped around her shoulders. She clutched a stack of books close to her chest as she bounded down the dorm building stairs. She wasn’t alone. There were dozens of girls heading in the same direction—classes started in fifteen minutes—but she was all that I saw. I leaned against my motorcycle parked beside the curb and watched her smile breathe vibrance into the world. Nothing could be as bright as her.
As she saw me, her smile became wider, and it floored me. No matter what, her happiness gave me peace. She ran forward, her thin sundress whipping in the warm breeze and clinging to her gorgeous curves.
“What are you doing here?” She fell into my embrace and I kissed her head. “I have class. Where are you supposed to be?”
“Right here.” My hands slipped down her spine as I stared down at her. She grinned and went on her tiptoes. I still had to lean down to reach her lips. “But in an hour and a half, we have to be somewhere.”
She shifted from one foot to the other and frowned with confusion. “Where?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She was getting used to surprises. Because I surprised her all the time. But she still dropped her bottom lip and frowned. “Go on.” I gave her a tap on the bum and gestured. “Class. I’ll be waiting in your room. I love you.”
She smiled and pulled me down for a quick kiss. “I love you too.”
While she was in class, I hung around in her shared dorm room. Lennon—Dallas’s roommate—allowed me to be in here as long as I didn’t go near her side of the room or touch her things. Which wasn’t an issue. I lay on the little bed, which had seen more action than mine, and pulled out my phone. Dallas and I spent most of our time in her room since Lennon went out a lot and I didn’t like the way that my roommate, Oliver, looked at Dallas.
It was part of the reason that I couldn’t wait to surprise Dallas this afternoon. My girl was only on her second year in and she was already doing the most incredible things. She’d starred in three music videos as a backup dancer. She’d done a few live concerts for various artists around California. She was getting her name out there, going to school, and working in a sporting-goods store part time. She made me so proud.
We’d been talking about moving in together more and more since we’d spent so much of the summer apart because of our schedules. I had gone home and she was back and forth between Colorado and California. I missed her. We figured that it was time.
When Dallas came back, she rushed in and dropped her things. It was my surprise, but somehow she managed to be the one forcing me out of the room when I tried to get her into bed. I couldn’t help it. She made my dick twitch. We went downstairs and stood beside the motorcycle with our helmets. She rode hers all the time but she still loved being my passenger.
“You should let me drive,” she said, lifting her visor after she had pulled her helmet on.
“This bike is too big for you,” I said, amused as her dark-brown gaze narrowed. “You’re scary enough on your own bike.”
“Bullshit. I’m an excellent driver.”
It was true. She’d picked it up damn quick. I swung a leg over the seat and gestured for her to get on behind me. I loved the feeling of her body behind mine. How she’d slip her hands under my leathers and run her fingers along my lower torso. She flicked her visor down and zipped up her jacket. She hated wearing her leathers when it was hot, but like hell would I let her risk her safety. She wrapped around me, just as she’d wrapped herself around my entire life, and squeezed.
“You’re the one who has a higher crash count than me,” she added, shouting over the rumbling engine. “You might recall how we met. Crashed into my damn car.”
“Yeah, but that was on purpose,” I shouted over my shoulder. “It doesn’t count.”
“What?”
I laughed, flicked my visor down, and tore off down the street before she could continue interrogating me. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at an apartment complex in Panorama City. Dallas climbed off the bike and pulled her helmet off. Her hair stood up and I reached out to smooth it down while she stared at me.
“You crashed into my car on purpose?”
I took my helmet off and we both started pulling our leathers off. “Yeah, I had to get your attention somehow.”
She tipped her head back and stared at the clouds as she exhaled a loud breath. “I shouldn’t even be surprised. That is such a Drayton thing to do. Far be it for you to talk to me like a normal person.”
“You made me nervous.”
Her lips pursed with amusement. “I love you.”
Hearing that still made my heart beat faster. “I love you too.”
She let out a breath and finally took a look at the building. It was white and red brick. Square edges and white steel railing on the patios. Tall trees were spread out around the front parking lot. She looked at me, confused.
“What are we doing here?”
“Looking at an apartment. Perhaps one that we can share.”
Her mouth fell open.
“There’s one available and it’s in our price range. I want to take care of it, but I know you. You’ll want to chip in with costs—”
“You’re damn right.”
“Fine.” I smiled and tucked her under my arm after I’d stashed our leathers in the seat compartment. We wandered toward the building entrance. The round concrete arch read Sunset Terrace. “We can sign the lease today if you like it.”
“I love it.”
“You haven’t seen it.”
“You have, though. Right?”
“Yeah.”
“I trust you.” She stopped and peered up at me, squinting at the sun pouring down on us. “You have good taste and we’ll be living together. That’s the main thing.”
“Fifteen minutes to CalArts. Twenty to UCLA.”
“You’ve got it all figured out.”
She giggled as I grabbed her waist and drew her in. “So, you’re in?”
“Always.” She cupped my jaw and her thumb made circles on my skin. “As long as you’re there.”
The End
Acknowledgments
My dream to become a published author came true and there are so many people to thank. First and foremost, Wattpad. I stumbled upon this app one day, and it was love at first sight—a community for reading, writing, and interacting with authors and readers. It was heaven and it was where my passion for writing was reignited. Marley Meets Josh and Never Met a Girl Like Her, my first and second stories, introduced me to so many loyal readers who are still with me to this very day. Their comments and feedback and encouragement were the motivation that I couldn’t have lived without. By the time I started The QB Bad Boy and Me, I had a collective of one hundred thousand reads and two thousand followers. Not bad. However, The QB changed all of that, and suddenly I was looking at millions of reads and tens
of thousands of followers. My readers are the best bunch of people I’ve ever encountered. Their positive comments, messages, and support has never failed to amaze me. I’m here today because of this app, the community, and the best people that I know.
I want to thank God. All things are possible through him. My Nana and Grandad. Wow. I’ll never forget how often I would go and visit after I’d dropped the kids off at school. My nana and I would sit in her kitchen all day, talking about writing. She was an author for Mills & Boon in the seventies and we could spend hours talking about the differences between writing now and writing then. My grandparents were so encouraging, always asking how my books were coming along and how many reads I’d reached and what my next project was. Their faith in my abilities was more heartwarming than I can ever accurately describe. I love you guys. Thank you for believing in me.
My
mum and sister. They’ve been reading from the beginning. They offer their feedback. They tell other people about my stories. And they bounce ideas around with me. If I was suffering from writer’s block or a chapter or an idea, Mum would be right there, giving me ideas that ultimately helped progress the story. I love sitting with them and hearing them discuss a storyline—what they loved about it and what they found funny. Sometimes my sister would catch up on a chapter while I was sitting with her, and when she’d laugh out loud or express frustration or love for a character, it would warm my heart. I knew that I was doing something right if I could get my sister hooked on my books, considering she was never a reader. Love you guys.
Ashley. This girl has played a huge role in my Wattpad journey. I started reading her books on Wattpad, and we became fast friends with so many common interests. When I posted my very first story she created the cover and the rest is history. She’s made all of my covers, my aesthetics, and any graphics that I’ve requested from her. She’s always available to bounce ideas off. We brainstorm about each other’s books. We rant over writer’s block. We talk every single day and she’s one of my very best friends. One day I’ll make it to Canada and we’ll get to meet! I’m looking forward to it.
Jess. Twenty years of friendship takes this girl from best friend to sister status. I would be lost without her. She’s my soulmate. She’s been reading my books from the get-go. She’s believed in me. She’s cheered me on and given me her wholehearted support. She and I are two halves of a whole. Love you forever and ever.
Isaac. My husband. If it wasn’t for his hard work none of this would be possible. He allowed me to remain at home and dedicate my time toward writing. I promised him that I could succeed, that I could make a career out of it with a little bit of time. And he believed in me. It paid off. I love you.
I want to thank Deanna and Alysha for changing my life when they called me with this opportunity. These women have been so wonderful to work with, so encouraging and supportive. It amazes me that they can work with so many different authors and have a personal relationship with each one. They are responsive and never delay to answer my many, many questions. I’ve felt so blessed to have been able to work with such wonderful ladies. I want to thank Adam Wilson for his help in the beginning of the editing process. I would never have known where to start if it weren’t for his wonderful edit letter and notes.